Cross-media concepts Initial research

Facts from the Brief In the last general election only 65% of registered voters actually voted. To put it another way more than a third didn’t vote. The three major parties between them accounted for 88% of the votes cast. However, the Conservatives achieved their 47% of seats on the basis of support from only 24% of the electorate. This means that 76% of the population didn’t get the government they wanted. In two thirds of constituencies the winner had less than 50% of the votes cast, meaning less than half got the candidate they wanted. When these figures are broken down by age it can be seen that only 44% of years voted and the percentage rises consistently to 65+ where 76% voted, meaning even in this category a quarter still didn’t vote. There were also significant class and racial differences in voting patterns.

Why do people choose not to vote?

007/dec/12/whyvote Half of New York University students would sell their right to vote for $1m. A fifth would sell their right to vote in 2008 for an iPod touch. Yet 90% of them also say that voting is either "very" or "somewhat" important. They were nearly on to something.sell their right to vote for $1m. A fifth would sell their right to vote in 2008 for an iPod touch. Yet 90% of them also say that voting is either "very" or "somewhat" important. They were nearly on to something.

Your Vote is Your Voice Showing that choosing not to vote is choosing to censor yourself- therefore a censor bar or similar means of showing a persons silence would work best. Start off with the Ambient Ad idea, Show someone on the street with their mouth covered in some way- Tape or a censor bar that they are holding up themselves-this would symbolically show that they are self-censoring Can enforce this message and make it more positive in a TV ad campaign by showing the censored image where we can see someone is trying to speak but we are unable to hear them, The message is made positive by the physical suggestion of removing your censor and using your vote, we see the people removing their censor and then speaking to camera. (Almost like a moving poster) The Poster campaign would show a censored image- unclear at first. Other posters are then added that make the message clear- work in stages to gain attention.

Strapline Vote. It does make a difference. Your Vote is Your Voice. Make sure we hear it. I lost my voice when I didn’t vote. Don’t lose yours. Vote. Don’t censor yourself. Didn’t vote? Can’t Complain. Let your voice be heard. Remember to vote.

Mock Posters

Feedback Presentation is clear and focused. Your voice is your vote… People gagged with gaffa tape, removing it to give themselves a voice. A very clear simple idea – new strapline “Vote – Don’t censor yourself” Posters, and moving posters work well. Moving image is in three parts, gagging themselves, out in the street, and freeing themselves. Good simple idea. The first one works well as a teaser. The second one needs a little perking up, maybe relate it to percentage of voters, or imply strongly held opinions that the gagged ones disagree with. The final one doesn’t need to link directly to voting. “Pace” them 20 second taster, 30 second link to voting, and 10 second on the day taking the gag off. It works well across all poster media.

Next steps Interactive Poster- peel back a tab over the tape which reveals info and stats underneath to do with voting. Social Media- Remove your censor, show people removing their censors #Uncensored? Shorten the last video so it’s only the removal of the censor Find a way of making the sound more muted/not explicit/unclear when speaking in the second video- use it to give some stats/info Use a combo of heavy/harsh tape (gaffa?) on top and masking beneath-softer on skin. Or colour masking tape some way? Some will be filmed at home some will be filmed in public/at uni to gather a group. Stats need to be interesting ones that make sense of the fact that if we make sure to use our vote it does count to the final outcome An internet banner that can me interacted with, hover over and it starts to peel itself back, revealing a mouth with stats imposed on top

Statistic websites/references election-2015/ /General-election highest-turnout-since-Tony-Blair- landslide.html election-2015/ /General-election highest-turnout-since-Tony-Blair- landslide.html g/2015/feb/24/uk-election-2015-can-young- voters-make-a-difference g/2015/feb/24/uk-election-2015-can-young- voters-make-a-difference